I had Jury Duty last week. I showed up on Monday and after a few hours of waiting was asked if I could attend a 3 week trial. They also explained that we could be reimbursed for lost wages, so that was not a valid excuse. I told them yes and was told to return the next afternoon.
The next day I had to sit through the court asking 60 people in the jury pool various questions. It was mildly interesting, but tedious. We only thing we were told about the trial was that the defendant (a black, 25 year old male) was being charged in a home invasion where one of the residents was shot. The saddest thing was that several jurors said that they had family members or close friends who have been murdered.
I tried to find any honest reason for the court to dismiss me, but was not successful. I got close when the defense attorney asked if anyone would tend to disbelieve a witness if it was known they were a convicted felon. I was amazed to find my hand was the only one raised. The judge however made him rephrase his question to ask if anyone would reject a felon's testimony automatically. I couldn't raise my hand to that.
They finally finished questioning at 4:45, so we were told to come back on Wednesday to see who would wind up on the jury. I came back to find the courtroom empty except for the bailiff and fellow jurors. I thought for sure the guy plead guilty and I was free, but no. It turns out the defense attorney had a seizure that morning and was in the hospital. We were to return on Thursday, but left our cell phone numbers in case it was delayed again.
Each day I received a call telling me to attend the next day until this morning. I was told today that I have been dismissed. I am very glad since this was looking to be over 4 weeks of duty while my job only pays for 2.
So today I actually got to look around and find out what I could about what happened. It turns out 3 guys broke into an apartment here in Chandler (about 12 miles from our home). One of the people living there fought with the intruders and ended up getting shot and killed. The three were caught and plead guilty to armed robbery. This defendant got 8 years in prison for that. This trial was either for kidnapping or muder or both. They never did say.
Just knowing that this guy plead guilty already to being a part of the robbery, I would be very inclinded to find him guilty. It could have been interesting, but 4+ weeks would have been way too long, especially since it would be durring the kid's fall break.
